Belgian Style Amber Ale | Dark Horse Brewing Company

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While the malt and hops give this beer an amazing copper color, medium body, and a smooth mouth feel; it’s the yeast that sets this one apart from other amber ales. Inspired by Belgium's beer, women and mussels we thought it would be cool to give our Amber a little Belgian touch. We accomplish this by using an "almost Belgian" yeast strain producing similar esters and flavors commonly found in more traditional Belgian beers.

Reviews by PhillyStyle:

The beer appeared a clear amber color, which produced a two finger off-white head, but quickly dissolved and left no cap. The beer gave off a stronger than expect aroma, toasted malts, biscuit and slight hop. The taste followed the nose, but was perhaps a little lighter than expected, based on the nose. The beer had a light feel to it. It was crisp, clean and a well-balanced beer with good carbonation. Overall, this is one of the more average pale ales that I have tried.

More User Reviews:

A - This one pours reddish amber/bronze with a small khaki head that quickly fades to a thin layer of fizz. Swirling produces some spotty lace, but fails to bring up a decent head. I really like the dusky and hazy color though.

S - This has a fruity and vegetable combo aroma, like V8 splash. I'm getting some musty earthy moist soil and also some grassy hop notes. This smells a bit chalky and old world, and I'm all about funky notes like these, but they somehow fail to deliver here.

T - Carrot juice with strawberries and peaches. There is a mushroomy dirty flavor too, a long with a biscuity malt aspect that wasn't present in the aroma. A peppery spicy flavor is very prevalent also, like pepper in a Bloody Mary.

M - Gritty, earthy, dirty, medium in body, and dry on the finish. A really solid mouthfeel for an amber ale!

D - Not too shabby. I like the oddball earthy notes, and the tight mouthfeel aides drinkability. This is a pretty good brew, even though it doesn't look all that great.

One of the worst ambers I've ever had maybe it was just served improperly but it tasted like a Belgian triple that had been left out in the sun for about a month and than scuttled back into a keg so I could suffer. Even for a Belgian this beer is lacking the fact that it stradles between both Belgian and ambers and is astonishingly underwhelming on both fronts is even more dissapointing. I'm ashamed for Dark Horse that they even claim this awful bag of dicks.

Color is a hazy amber, glowing copper when held to light. 1 finger creamy white head. Leaving a thin layer of retention and spotty bubbles.
Any lace quickly slides back down into the beer.

Aroma is a burnt pine, some grassy hops, sawdust, resiny hops. Bitter in aroma, no sweetness detected at the nose.

Moderate carbonation up front, sweet malty flavors. Orange peel and a large overhwlming amount of ginger. Not a fan of this.
Mouthfeel is thin and watery. The bitter burnt pine wood flavors and more then generous amounts of ginger are enough to turn me off from buying this again.

T: Cider taste with little to no hops; this beer tastes artificial on the finish and is very mild. Pear-like taste of a witbier is also unfortunately pleasant. This mixture doesn't work well and tastes bad.

M: Semi-smooth, but not great.

D: Hard to drink.

This is the only Dark Horse beer I've had that I didn't like; it is the worst amber ale I've had unfortunately. Just buy Lucky 13 from Lagunitas instead.

I very much did not like this beer. It was a hazy reddish copper with next to no head. Sweet smell with notes of bubblegum (yech!)

First tangy esthery note with a bit of yeast coming in along with some crystal sweetness and more bubblegum. Hops ride along the top of this beer popping their head in before the yeast and after the bubblegum. Not what I exected, but now I know that this is brewed with a belgian yeast strain. Doesn't help knowing that, this didn't taste good to me, the combination of the tangy esthers and bubblegum did not work well IMO!

Poured a thick orange brown color. Nose is fruity and sweet but soured. Taste is medium bodied, fuity, astringent and sour. Mouthfeel is full but harsh. Nothing about this is drinkable in my eyes.Maybe I got a bad batch or a bad bottle. Who knows. I would try another one.

Poured a really cool amber/red color with thick sticky head,u could tell this beer was really well crafted from the pour.Rich malty,fruity smell with some bread like smell in the background,taste was rich and fruity,good malt crachter to it.Real complex beer I wich I had more time to visit here to go right to the brewpub to get this on tap.

The beer pours an orangish-amber color with a white head. The aroma is malty with some fruit. The flavor is caramel malt with some fruit notes, but something is a little off. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

Taste: Heavily toasted malts, with dark fruit and cherry. The Belgian aroma I detected doesn't make itself known in the taste besides for maybe some light clove. Very medicinal and metallic at the end.

Feel: Seems kind of flat and spritzy at the same time. Light body with off-dry finish.

Drinkability: Just a strange beer overall. Not a fan, especially with that atrocious medicinal aftertaste. Seems like I may have gotten a bad bottle, but many others comment on the murky look with no head.

Appears a semi clouded caramel amber hue with a light cream colored head dwindles rather quickly leaving a thin collar of lacing with minimal patches sticking to the sides of my glassware. Aromatics are tame with dominant caramel malts and a touch of lingering metallic natured elements, carbonation prickles the nose but really doesn't give off an actual aroma. Flavors jump out with some cloyingly sweet sensations of apple juice with a touch of unwelcomed acidity. Way too one dimensional and malt driven I can't really even mention hops it tastes sort of like unfermented wort, with pineapple juice and some other tropical nectars adding to the sugar content. Mouthfeel is a touch sticky with residuals, pass me another version definitely a trainwreck on the palate. Carbonation is overly fizzy and seems un natural for me. Drinkability overall wasn't offended it just was way too sweet for me, kick up the hops just a tad and I could see this working. I will try another bottle to make sure it wasn't a carbonation issue.

12 oz bottle that’s still coated with sediment at the bottom after a full pour. Although the label uses a small font size for "Belgian Style", this has a clear and authentic Belgian aroma and flavor profile. High complexity and a dynamic series of flavors. Excellent mouthfeel with soft, medium+ carbonation in a near medium body. Fruity and lightly funky aroma. The slightly hazy amber body is topped with a durable and semi-creamy, bone-colored head.

A- This beer has a hazy apricot brown body with a thick light tan head of foam. There is a strong carbonation of micro bubbles that race around in the glass and supports the head for most of the beer.

S- The smell of yeast and dry biscuit malt has an earthy pine note that comes through as it warms. The smell is pretty soft except for the yeasty notes.

T- The taste of biscuit malt and toast are followed by a soft but bright orange fruit flavor. The finish is a light green pine bitterness that hangs on a bit after each sip.

M- This beer has a medium mouthfeel with a creamy texture but a pretty clean finish.

D- This beer is simple but good. The flavors are not complex but are pretty distinct, however it would be nice to taste them a bit more. Good session beer and I think if on cask much more subtle notes would really help this beer.

This amber is a thick and cloudy dark orange color. A very light tan head reaches almost a finger and fades to a thick foam that leaves some lacing around the glass.
There's a good balance in the aroma evidencing a foundation of malts with a good hops presence adding mostly floral notes. Sweetness is on an even keel with a bit of earthiness. Light banana and bubble gum notes of Belgian yeast are also unexpectedly present. The flavor seems not to mesh well as first but melds as it sits, just needing to warm slightly from the fridge to work. Issues here are a touch of graininess and a bit of rubbing alcohol presence fading in and out.
The body is medium, as is the level of carbonation adding a brisk, nipping crispness. Smoothness comes up in the middle without ever losing that crisp bite.